Discussion

Dine About Town 2014 [San Francisco]

It seems that folks were not too excited about it last year. Thoughts about this year's lineup? In particular, I'd be interested to hear any advice or recommendations for vegetarian-friendly picks among this year's options.

Yeah, it seems like they don't have menus for most of the restaurants, but there are some linked from dineabouttown.com. Some of them are also on OpenTable, if you click to the restaurant's individual menu page.

I went with a group to Fringale last night. The choices on the DAT menu are from the regular menu. I wasn't too impressed with the food, especially compared to previous DAT trips to One Market and Isa. The calamari appetizer was tasty but the seabass entree was bland. My friend liked the coq au vin. The chocolate gourmand dessert was delicious and the gateau Basque was quite good. Service was very good.

GGRA is taking it over and will be re-branded as Restaurant week. They are offering different tiers of participation and it is up to the restaurant to decide at what level they want to participate. Has anyone read or seen the new details?

To de-emphasize the discount price point and try to include a greater range of restaurants of varying profiles, we are dividing the program into two separate channels. It will be up to restaurants to decide what they would like to offer. Restaurant Week menus should stand out for being unique for the program, hopefully not just a re-assembly of existing á la carte items.

This offering should feel rare/exclusive. Get creative! Menu can highlight:- farm relationship- particular wine/beer pairings or signature cocktail- intentionally family style (something diners have expressed a lot of interest in!)- a departure from usual cuisine/style- collaboration with guest chef/sommelier/pastry chef- fun themes: what you would want for your last supper, the meal that inspired you to be a chef/restaurateur, the Giants’ favorite things

Also: wasn't the point of DAT to discover new places and try them at a slightly lower price point? I didn't mind at all that they were generally taking items from the regular menu, because it meant you were getting a good sense of what the restaurant had to offer.